Dead Romance (New Adventures) [Mass Market Paperback]

The thing I most applaud in any "series" book is that the novel stand on its own and not require the reader to already be familiar with the other books with which it is connected. "Dead Romance" fits the bill nicely. I had never read a "New Adventure" before, and I had no trouble following what was going on (well, it's more accurate to say that I had no more trouble following the proceedings than I think the author intended.) I think I'd even go so far as to say the reader needs no familiarirty with Dr. Who to appreciate it, but I can't say that for certain until I've field tested the book on a friend who isn't a Who-fan. The references to the T.V. show are all very oblique and indirect, and I think the narrative holds up perfectly well on its own.

It's difficult to tell much about the plot without spoiling the various unexpected twists, but I'll try. We begin with the narrator, young ex-bohemian Christine Summerfield, walking around a ruined landscape, writing in her notebook about how she survived the end of the world in October, 1970, with a vague implication that the world was destroyed by aliens. The writing style is that of a person telling something from memory, jumping around in time a great deal, suddenly remembering things that she ought to have mentioned earlier, and overall very informal, because she begins by saying that she is writing this record mainly for its therapeutic value and doesn't expect that another human being will ever come along to read it.

Add to this the fact that the narrator has a heavy drug history, and the story could easily become incoherent, but it doesn't. It ties up remarkably neatly at the end. There is a very good explanation for how Earth's civilization can have been destroyed 23 years ago and yet have left us here to read about it. It's not time travel--not really, anyway.

The book has some wonderful takes on the nature of reality, and yet the story is as much physics as metaphysics, all the cleverer because it's communicated through the words of a narrator who doesn't know any science (certainly no modern, post-1970 science). Great atmospheric stuff throughout the book describing London in 1970 (Not that I was in london in 1970, of course, so maybe it's wrong. It feels right, though). The alien civilizations and technologies feel genuinely alien and nigh-incomprehensible, not just people in funny costumes carrying zap guns. The Time Lords (never named, of course) come across as vastly more powerful, inhuman, and terrifying than they ever did on the TV series, and their adversaries are odder still.

I suppose what I most appreciate is that, when dealing with subject matter this strange, with a narrator who confesses at the outset that her memory is not reliable, most authors would be tempted to cop out and not even worry about the plot making sense, let alone being scientifically credible, and perhaps leave you with a book-length version of the last twenty minutes of 2001 (or perhaps one of those long, lumbering serialized TV shows like The X-Files that acquire so many disconencted loose ends that there's no way to tie them together in a way that doesn't feel incomplete or contrived). Here, the plot pays off, in a way that you don't see coming until it happens at the very end, and the best part is that it seems so logical, even inevitable, that you feel that you should have seen it coming and yet you didn't.

Christine is well-characterized, and even though her life (even before any aliens show up in it) is an utter, drug-addled mess of her own making, you really identify with her and sympathize with her. For all the bad choices she's made, she's anything but stupid.

In terms of tone, make no mistake, it's an extremely grim, cynical story. It's the end of the world, after all (after a fashion). Yet at the very end, after she has accepted and learned to live with all the revelations that have been thrust upon her, that acceptance, in and of itself, and an accompanying willingness to move on, offer a ray of hope. I think that's what really makes the story for me--to have everything, everything, EVERYTHING taken from you, and then to accept it, get up, and move on from it, because there isn't anything else TO do, is there?

An excellent, excellent novel. Exactly the sort of intellectual workout you want from a really good science fiction story, without in any way compromising its worth as basic fiction (strong central character, strong plot, strong tone and theme).

According to Christine Summerfield, the 'world ended on 12 October, 1970'. This is the first of many conundrums in Lawrence Miles' fascinating novel in the New Adventures series. Immediately we are led to question the main narrator, a technique the author has used before, but never to such devastating effect. We are forced to witness the barbaric destruction of a whole culture - 'our' culture. Lawrence Miles uses the form of a pulp novel to dismantle the very conception of reality. All the motifs of the New Adventures are here: from Jack the Ripper who threatens Christine's life, to the mysterious race of time travellers, but nothing is quite what it seems. 'Dead Romance' sees the return of Chris Cwej, who appears to be working for the time travellers, who are in trouble. They find their power base usurped by sudden re-emergence of the incomprehensible and unknowable 'Gods'. Christine must help Cwej in his bid to build an escape route for the benevolent time travellers, via an entire universe entrapped within a bottle. However, the owners of the bottle don't want their space to be corrupted, and something much more horrifying has followed Chris in... 'Dead Romance' is a witty, macabre work by a novelist at the height of his powers.

As the forward by author Lawrence Miles says this Mad Norwegian Press reprint of his 1999 novel Dead Romance is really for two groups of people those who are Virgin New Adventures fans who missed it the first time round and those who've been reading the Faction paradox books. Well I fall into the first category having come into the Virgin New Adventures very late. I came to Dead Romance aware of its reputation as one of (or even the) best of that book range. So in short: Dead Romance is what Doctor Who is at its best: daring and original even a decade after its original publication (and five years after this reprint).

Perhaps the most refreshing element of Dead Romance is its narrator. With the character of Christine Summerfield and her notebooks Miles brings a refreshed air with a first person take on the Doctor Who universe. Christine is a much different character then her better known "sister" Bernice yet she retains the characteristic wit and sarcasm of Bernice even when the end of the world is literally at hand. The success of Dead Romance lies mainly in the characterization of Christine and how she interprets both the world and the incredible events around her.

Yet while Christine is the novel's emotional and physical center there is her relationship with Chris Cwej. Making a welcome return after last being seen in the final seventh Doctor New adventure Lungbarrow here is a Chris Cwej considerably different from the one of earlier novels. While he is definitely a continuation of the companion he is a changed man with distorted memories and now working for a mysterious group of time travelers (as they're referred to in this edition) By novels end is almost unrecognizable and the result is one of the Doctor Who ranges most disturbing looks at life after the TARDIS.

What makes Dead Romance stand out is its format and its plot. In an unusual twist Dead Romance is told from a first person perspective. As I said earlier much of the novels success is how the narrator Christine Summerfield interprets both the world and the incredible events around her. That helps make the novel's plot even better. Inside Dead Romance is an incredible tale of universes and worlds on the brink of destruction told from the perspective of a 23 year old drug addict forced into an incredible world of aliens, time travel, and universes in bottles. Add on some frank takes on sex, drugs and the end of the world and the result is one of the most daring Doctor Who related novels. Or to put it in a one word: brilliant!

A quick note on this edition though. While the original Virgin edition references Time Lords and other elements of the Doctor Who universe this edition doesn't so much. This is due to the fact that this novel is put into a place in the Faction Paradox universe. While some of those who read the original might be annoyed, as someone who didn't I found it interesting and far from annoying. In fact for those readers in the know, capable of reading between the lines or proud owners of Lars Pearson's I, Who 2 it shouldn't be hard to figure out.

Included in this reprint are two shorts stories and an essay by Miles related to his creation Faction Paradox. While I read each of these I admit to be bewildered by the first short story entitles Toy Story, baffled by the essay on the workings of the Faction Paradox universe (though that could be from not reading any of the books related to it) and enjoyed the final short story entitled Grass. My thought on these is that if you know quite a bit about Faction Paradox who should enjoy them otherwise you might want to skip them.

Dead Romance has earned a reputation over the years as one of the best Doctor Who related novels. With its characters, fresh narrative approach and fantastic plot Lawrence Miles shows us what Doctor Who is capable of at its best. Whether you are a fan of Doctor Who or science fiction or something else this is a novel that must be read to be believed. In short: it's brilliant!